Greetings for a fruitful new year to all of us!
Bukidnon Our Home would like to extend gratefulness to all those who became a part of its birth pains and successes in 2008!
Looking forward to a great year of blogging ahead of us!
Salamat tungkay (Thank you very much)!
At least P8 million has been earmarked for technical-vocational training in Bukidnon in 2008 to 2009 but implementation has been affected by shortcomings in information dissemination, an official at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority provincial office said.
Applicants to scholarships and paying courses complained that TESDA has made them wait for months just to get into a training session.
Amado Amontos Jr., TESDA–Bukidnon provincial director, said the national government released P2 million to each Bukidnon congressman for a scholarship program.
He said Rep. Candido Pancrudo of the First District allotted another P1 million for scholarships to which TESDA added the same amount.
He explained that they have limited equipment and trainers and have to work with partner private training centers such as the one in Del Monte Philippines Inc. and the local government unit of Don Carlos town.
A complete version of the story appears at MindaNews.com.
Bukidnon’s 23-year old Sayre Highway will get a lift with a pledge from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for at least P200 million for the rehabilitation of the Second District stretch of the road.
There were also talks that the President pledged at least P8oo million for the whole highway spanning in the three congressional districts.
Construction firms dealing with government-funded infrastructure projects in Bukidnon will find stricter rules in 2009.
The provincial government is imposing stricter rules for local infrastructure projects in the province, requiring all interested contractors to seek accreditation with the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP or provincial board), according to a new ordinance approved on December 10.
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } The requirement is applicable to any person or firm who will engage in the business of infrastructure construction for the Province of Bukidnon. Applicants have to seek accreditation with the SP.
The accreditation process involves submission of pertinent documents to the SP, such as company profile, assets, and liabilities and income tax returns for the past three years.Read a full report here.
While praying for silence in the battlefields, Bukidnon Bishop Honesto Pacana called on both government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to keep on talking and never to allow times of silence in the peace process.
Pacana said the silence of the guns is not enough unless there is continuing dialogue between the two parties.
The bishop described to MindaNews the peace process situation at the moment as “experiencing silence.” He said the ongoing hostilities are a proof of that as he appealed for a continuing peace process.
He has called for prayers among the Catholics for peace as they celebrate Christmas in his homily for the first morning mass on December 16 at the San Isidro Cathedral.
He has appealed to the faithful to include in their prayers peace in the country, especially in Mindanao.
Pacana said even if Bukidnon is not directly within conflict areas related to the GRP-MILF problem, it has its own peace issues.
In his response during the launching of a book on the Bukidnon tribe on December 22, Pacana cited three problems especially affecting the indigenous peoples. He said they are threatened by militarization, politicalization, and the entry of mining firms.
He said even carnapping, burglary, and violence in the streets are indicators of “unpeace.”
The bishop said there must be persistence on pushing for dialogue as there will be no peace and understanding without it.
He said the dialogue need not be large scale but also at the family level.
He said “We should take advantage of the ‘climate of peace’ during Christmas to work for reconciliation”.
This also appears at MindaNews.com.
I hope Beth Keathley, 30, now of suburban Bloomington, Illinois, but was from Pigtauranan, Pangantucan, Bukidnon will be able to appeal her case.
She is the Filipina from Bukidnon province who has been ordered for deportation after an immigration judge in Chicago, Illinois found her in “violation of federal law” for casting her vote although she was not yet an American citizen.
The city government released close to P60 million in Christmas bonuses to at least 5,000 personnel this yearend, with a possibility of an additional release.
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } The city council passed a resolution on December 16 authorizing Mayor Florencio T. Flores Jr. to grant close to P60 million for “additional Christmas benefits” to city government officials and employees, including barangay community workers.
The proposed budget was to be taken from savings of the city government this year, according to Councilor Bob Roberto Casanova, who chairs the city council committee on finance, accounts, and appropriations.
The budget included P40,000 each for 378 elective and appointive officials and regular employees for a total of P15.12 million. Each of the city’s 1,200 “job order employees” also received P20,000 each for a total of P24 million. Read a full report here.
The Malaybalay city council here is seeking the intervention of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri for the installation of cellular phone sites in Upper Pulangui district. The district, comprising mountain barangays along Bukidnon’s border with Agusan del Sur, is still “out of coverage area” at a time when mobile phone companies are fiercely competing for more complex services such as wireless internet connection.
Councilor Jimmy Gellor told the council putting up sites in the area would not only help address the law and order problem but also help expedite economic development there.
The City Council, through the committee on transportation and communications, has passed a resolution urging Globe and Smart mobile phone companies to put up cellular phone sites in the area but there has been no response.
Councilor Manuel Dinlayan said barangay officials in the area have expressed concern over the problem of poor communication access in their villages, aside from problems of transportation.
The Upper Pulangui area was the site of fierce encounters and battles between the government and the New Peoples’ Army in mid-2006.
Among the barangays in the Upper Pulangui area are Zamboanguita, St. Peter, Busdi, and others.
President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo took an early dinner with Bukidnon local officials on December 18 at the Pine Hills Hotel, as part of her visits to provinces around Mindanao.
Board member Nemesio Beltran, Jr said the President vowed to repair the Sayre highway in the province and is expected to return in January to inaugurate the Bukidnon Medical Center in Malaybalay City.
The provincial government has been pushing for the repair of the highway amid potholes and other road “disasters waiting to happen”.
It has been an overdue repair which appeal has fallen on deaf ears at the Department of Public Works and Highways, the agency in charge of national roads.
Beltran said the President just gave her “Merry Christmas” amid talks she was to hand in her Christmas bonus to the local officials led by Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. and the mayors of 20 towns and two cities.
The event was closed to the media, even if she has asked the press to join her in her convoy from the Seagull Mountain Resort in Kitaotao, Bukidnon to Malaybalay City.
Read more about her rendezvous with the press here.
Bukidnon provincial legislators revealed during their December 10 regular session that national funds for the construction of the proposed Bukidnon Sports Complex are already in the drawing board.
Ex-officio Board member Oliver Owen Garcia said at least P150 million were already pledged for the project. But he did not say which national government office is coursing the funds.
He later clarified possibly it is from the President’s Social Fund.
Garcia mentioned the funding when he expounded on the City Government of Valencia’s plan to enter into an agreement with the provincial government as it volunteers an 8-hectare lot in Bagonta-as as a possible site of the sports complex.
The city government has offered the site, Garcia said, with the city’s intention to lobby that the sports complex be built in Valencia.
The provincial legislators deliberated on whether it’s proper to arrange for a donation or usufruct scheme renewable for 25 years.
The legislators vowed for more discussion on the issue, including the management of the sports complex.
Bukidnon Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. has proposed a P405-million budget for the province’s economic enterprise in 2009.
The proposal was approved but only after provincial board members called in the governor’s economic team to shed light on at least P125 million that has to be taken from the Capitol’s general fund to subsidize the “economic enterprises.”
About 68 percent or P273.5 million of the proposed budget goes to provincial hospitals in Malaybalay City and the towns of Kalilangan, Kibawe, Malitbog, Maramag, Manolo Fortich, San Fernando, and Talakag.
Zubiri endorsed the proposed budget in a letter to the board on November 13.
Board member Rogelio Lago asked for more discussions on the budget, prompting temporary presiding officer Roland Deticio to call in Zubiri’s deputies at the economic enterprise unit. Read more.
Those who missed American author Ronald Edgerton at Bukidnon State University recently may still catch up in a way.
His book “People of the Middle Ground: A Century of Conflict and Accomodation in Central Mindanao” is sold at Malaybalay’s Zeta Trading at P650 per copy.
The store is just a breath away from BSU’s southern side gate.
The book, a narrative on Bukidnon in a time of change and assimilation, is published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press.
The author used to be with the US Peace Corps and has visited Bukidnon many times.
The Americans, of course have a rich collection of information and other documents on the Philippines in general and Bukidnon in particular. It is kept in their libraries and depositories.
How I wish we in Bukidnon could also access those glimpses of the past now held in other countries.
Of course I look forward to reading this precious book and share it to friends. I’m sure this portion of Bukidnon’s history is revealing to the people of the province at present who stand before a crossroads of time.
The author deserves commendation for producing the manuscript with his intensive interviews and sourcing. His contribution is priceless in a province where there is a drought of local literature sent to press.
We welcome more books published on Bukidnon.
We just hope, too, that this time it would be written by the locals.
Bukidnon provincial legslators revealed during their December 10 regular session that national funds for the construction of the proposed Bukidnon Sports Complex are already n the drawing board.
Ex-officio Board member Oliver Owen Garcia said at least P150 million were already pledged for the project. But he did not say, which national government office is coursing the funds.
He later clarified possibly it is from the President’s Social Fund.
Garcia mentioned the funding when he expounded on the City Government of Valencia’s plan to enter into an agreement with the provincial government as it volunteers an 8-hectare lot in Bagonta-as as a possible site of the sports complex.
Garcia voiced out the city’s intention to lobby that the sports complex be built in the city, that’s why they are offering the site.
The provincial legislators deliberated on whether its proper to arrange for a donation or usufruct scheme renewable for 25 years.
The legislators vowed for more discussion on the issue, including the management of the sports complex.
MALAYBALAY CITY – Mayor Florencio T. Flores, Jr. said Malaybalay’s own
interim schools division would be operational by the opening of the
next school year in June 2009.
Flores told this reporter he has already endorsed to the city council
the proposed Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Education
for the creation of the separate schools division.
As of November 18, Councilor Victor Aldeguer said the city council has
passed a resolution granting authority to the mayor to sign the MOA. Read More »
Pupils from the Aglayan Elementary School perform during the Drum and Lyre presentation and Cheerdance Competition last month at the Capitol Grounds in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
The City Government of Malaybalay choose to hold the activity to highlight children of the city.
Vice Mayor Iñaki Zubiri said it has become the major activity to mark the Children’s Month celebration, although it was delayed since it was commemorated in October.
This girl shows off colors of her get up while preparing to present during the event.
The Bukidnon provincial capitol is in the background. (Photos by Gali)
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